


your hand, my heart

by crownsandbirds



Series: no other companion [1]
Category: If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio
Genre: Basically, M/M, That's it, alexander and james are cassius and brutus in JC, and he makes out with james, bc they're so fucking in love, forgive me rio for fucking up your canon, that's the whole thin, then oliver arrives, then they make out bc tension bc goddamn tent scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 14:06:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12632619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownsandbirds/pseuds/crownsandbirds
Summary: "Do you know what this whole thing means?"Alexander had thought he knew, but when he saw the way James gasped and shook his head as if to clear it every time they were done with the scene, the way his eyes dragged over Alexander's face with an expression he'd never once, in four years, seen before, when he realized he was barely able to sleep without getting drunk or high because he couldn't stop seeing the image of James' pretty lips pursed in anger burned in the back of his eyelids, he decided to stop trying to understand anything.





	your hand, my heart

**Author's Note:**

> "Such is my love, to thee I so belong,  
>   That for thy right myself will bear all wrong."
> 
> (William Shakespeare)

In all his years of acting and playing the most malicious characters in the Shakespeare world, Alexander had learned that, ironically, the simplest things were the hardest to deal with. 

It'd been obvious from the very start who was going to play who on their production of  _ Julius Caesar _ . He'd started reviewing Cassius' lines and subtly tuning his movements and general behavior to those of the main conspirator of the assassination before the cast list was even announced. Knowing he would play Cassius meant he knew without a shadow of a doubt who was going to play his Brutus: His Highness, resident Disney prince James Farrow, with his carefully soft eyes and regal posture combined with such a pretty face it was downright unfair. It was the perfect choice, the most evident choice. Absolutely no surprises. Alexander and James were beautiful when cast as opponents, and it would be entrancing to see them as best friends with completely different worldviews. 

No surprises, no traps, right? 

Wrong.  _ Fuck _ William Shakespeare and the goddamn  _ tent scene _ . 

Alexander had been obsessed with  _ Julius Caesar _ from the very first time he'd read it. For someone known for his skill when it came to frightening people and for a closeted homosexual who had no idea how to deal with the way he couldn't keep his eyes off of the barista in the coffee shop around the corner, Cassius and the tent scene had been the greatest relief in the entire world. Alexander was grateful for that, couldn't explain the thrill of relating to someone so badly he knew almost all the lines by heart.

He was not grateful, however, for Gwendolyn shooting questions at him and James like she wanted them to break and collapse in front of each other - if that ended in them jumping at the other's throat or making out into an inch of their lives, she didn't seem to know or particularly care. 

_ Do you know what this scene means? _

She kicked everyone out of the stage so it was just her, James and Alexander, so the two of them could be surrounded and trapped by the other's presence, so Alexander could go storming up to his dorm afterward and take off his clothes and realize they smelled faintly of James' cologne. 

_ Do you understand how much intensity there is between those two? Between you two? _

She circled around them like a snake, closing up the space between them until they were face to face, their breaths mingling. 

_ Again. Again. Once more. One more time until I'm so shaken by your performance I know I'll need alcohol when I get home.  _

When she'd said that, Alexander had snarled that he was the one who was going to need alcohol to get to the end of this. She'd looked delighted out of her mind at having got an impulsive reaction from her Cassius and told them to do it one more time. Alexander would've jumped at her if James hadn't caught his arm on the last moment.

_ Do you know what this whole thing  _ means _? _

Alexander had thought he knew, but when he saw the way James gasped and shook his head as if to clear it every time they were done with the scene, the way his eyes dragged over Alexander's face with an expression he'd never once, in four years, seen before, when he realized he was barely able to sleep without getting drunk or high because he couldn't stop seeing the image of James' pretty lips pursed in anger burned in the back of his eyelids, he decided to stop trying to understand anything. 

-

Alexander felt  _ good _ in his suit for the photoshoot. He felt powerful and ruthless like he could take down an entire empire with nothing but a wave of his hand. Oliver had muttered something about him looking like a mafioso and he hadn't been able to contain the smirk slashing up the corner of his mouth.

Then he saw James, in his perfect outfit with his hair perfectly styled, and his doe eyes shining as he laughed with Oliver about God knows what, and Alexander's hands twitched inside his pockets with the uncontrollable urge to grab James by his tie and throw him against the wall and-

He settled for harassing Oliver about his inability to tie a Windsor knot, took the opportunity to grab him unnecessarily on the chin and tilt his head up (he didn't know why he behaved like this when he was alone with Oliver and James. As if the distinct lack of intimate touches between the two of them made him unconsciously react to that in order to balance things out and push them to each other) and hoped his remark to James about how "Gwendolyn makes that scene feel so real I look at you  _ off _ stage and can't decide if I want to kiss you or kill you" sounded more like a joke than a confession.

-

Alexander liked to observe things carefully, as carefully as possible. When Gwendolyn allowed the others to finally watch the tent scene again for the first time in weeks, he didn't miss the way Oliver's eyes widened at how close him and James were standing to each other, at how loudly their arguing voices resonated on the room, and felt a strange thrill at hearing his soft gasp when their argument started to become angrier with every line.

Slightly distracted as he'd been with shooting side glances at the nervous wreck Oliver was turning into by the second, he was completely thrown off by surprise when James grabbed his collar roughly in order to demand his complete, undivided attention and snarled, " _ If you did, I care not. _ " in answer to Cassius' previous taunt about being the older soldier.

Well, then. If James wanted his full attention, he could have it. Alexander turned inexplicably angry and grabbed James' wrist, forcing him away from himself. " _ When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me."  _ he said with an indignant curl of his upper lip as he took a single step back from James - not enough to stay far, enough to make his Brutus come after him. 

" _ Peace! peace!"  _ James responded, but his eyes were pure war and he moved closer to Alexander. _ "You durst not so have tempted him."  _

_Tempted. Temptation._ Alexander's brain thought wildly. _A desire to_ do _something, especially something wrong or unwise._ He bickered with James for the next four lines without paying as much attention to his lines as he was to the actor in front of him. James was glaring at him as if he'd never seen him before, with all the fires of Pompeii burning inside his eyes. Alexander wanted to shove his fingers inside the fire and come out scarred and bleeding, wanted to feel the twitch of James' hands with his own, wanted to mar that perfect perfect skin with bruises and bites. Wanted to drag Oliver to the stage and allow him to reach the apex of whatever this was. 

James moved a bit to the side and Alexander caught Oliver's eyes, all the way across the stage. Oliver looked as if he'd seen a violent car accident; scared, unsure, unable to draw his glance away, mouth slightly open. His chest moved as he took quick, shallow breaths. 

There was absolutely no reason for Alexander to do what he did then. He crossed the distance between himself and James with long steps, tangled his fingers in the other's beautiful, soft, already messy hair, covered his mouth with his other hand, and when he said his next line, he said it with his forehead touching James', his fingers tightening on his locks, his lips against the back of his own hand like a forbidden kiss. The words came out so soft they hurt, and he did his best to keep his knees from shaking when he felt James' mouth against his palm. " _ Do not presume too much upon my love."  _ he said, the words leaving his tongue as if they'd come from his own heart. " _ I may do that I shall be sorry for." _

-

After rehearsal was over, Alexander refused to speak to anyone and stormed up to his room, trying to regain some sense into himself. 

He was in the process of taking off his shirt when a very disheveled, very chaotic James threw his door open, messy but regal, lost but strangely composed, a prince caught in the middle of a war who knew exactly what to do to win. 

"What would you be sorry for?" James asked in a hush of breath as he kicked the door close behind himself and stalked towards Alexander. 

"James, the others-" Alexander started, and was interrupted immediately by James. 

"Fuck the others. There's no one here but us." he demanded, putting a strong hand to his naked chest. "Tell me, Alexander. Tell me!" his tone was so imperial, his voice so unquestionable, Alexander almost fell to his knees right there. "What would you be sorry for?"

He suddenly remembered. His line. Cassius' line.  _ I may do that I shall be sorry for. _

What would he be sorry for? 

Alexander took James' hand from where it rested on his chest and put it on the back of his neck before taking hold of James' waist and pulling him to himself strongly enough to earn him a soft, quiet whimper, but James' eyes were still ferocious and unrelenting. "For this." he answered simply before kissing the other on the lips. 

James might be a prince, but with this he was a warrior through and through. His grip on Alexander's long dark hair was so tight it hurt, and he kissed like he refused to step back, like he was conquering an empire, like he was slashing his way through an army and to his certain victory. He drew blood with his kisses and pushed back with his body until Alexander put his back against a wall, held his wrists with an iron grip and allowed the both of them to take a breath. 

" _ You have done that you should be sorry for. _ " James answered, panting, lips red and swollen and glistening, the line right after Cassius' cutting remark. "Now we finish this."

"If my prince says so." Alexander said, barely having the presence of mind to realize it hadn't come half as sarcastic as he'd intended it to, sounding far more like an actual submission. He didn't have time to dwell on it, though, because James forced his hands out of Alexander's hold, grabbed his face and stole the air right out of him again. 

James wasn't quiet, like Alexander had imagined him to be, and he refused to keep still. He let out gasps and whimpers - he shivered when his lower lip was bitten, and his hips twitched when kisses were pressed against his jaw. His nails traced red lines on the back of Alexander's neck and on his exposed shoulders, and he moaned, a sweet, addicting sound, when Alexander allowed himself to grab his ass and pull him even closer by the hips.

"You're so fucking beautiful." he murmured against James' lips, unable to stop himself. At last, he acknowledged the other boy who'd entered roughly twenty seconds ago and whom he hadn't let James see lest it break the very delicate thing the three of them had built around themselves. "He's so beautiful. You're so lucky. Come here." he mouthed to Oliver over James' shoulder when the boy reached down to kiss a hot line down his neck, and watched with pleasure as Oliver completely lost the hold onto his own mind and stumbled into the room. 

"Hey, little prince." Alexander softly brought James' head up so he could look into his eyes. "Want to see something?" 

James nodded suspiciously and let Alexander turn him around. 

When James and Oliver finally found each other, it was like the world had spun completely off its axis. Oliver stared at James like he was the most fascinating, incomprehensible thing the universe had ever produced, and licked his lips unconsciously at the sight of James' kiss-swollen mouth. They looked at the other as if he was the most important thing in the whole planet, and it made Alexander's heart swell. 

"O-Oliver, I-I-" James stammered after a few seconds, and they both flinched at the sound of his voice. Alexander smiled sweetly, raised a hand so Oliver wouldn't move or say anything for a few more seconds, and hugged James from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist. 

"Come here, Oliver." Alexander beckoned, the smile never leaving his lips. James was panting in his arms, but made no movement to leave or push him off. Oliver opened his mouth to answer but Alexander stopped him before he could. "Shhh, don't worry. Everything will be okay." he said soothingly, one of his hands smoothing James' hair out of his eyes with careful fingers. "Come here, Oliver. I promise everything will be fine. You both want this. Just come here." 

After countless seconds, Oliver walked towards them, and stopped centimeters away from James, blinking as if he had no idea how to react to anything and was expecting this to be a pipe dream, but his eyes shifted wildly between James' face and the patch of skin visible from where his collar hung open. He looked like a drowning man who was finally able to see the surface. James looked like he wanted Oliver so bad it physically hurt him. 

Alexander moved his hand from where it rested in James' hair to grab gently at his chin, tilting his head up so his lips were nearly touching Oliver's. Oliver closed his eyes as if he'd been burnt by how much he wanted this, but soon opened them again. Neither of them moved until Alexander whispered quietly, "You have no idea how heavenly he tastes."

At hearing those words, everything suddenly became much more real, and Oliver finally,  _ finally,  _ pressed his lips to James', who made a desperate sound from the back of his throat and wrapped his arms around Oliver's neck, deepening their kiss as if he needed it to survive. 

Alexander had never in his life seen two people kiss like Oliver and James. They clung to each other like the very thought of being separated hurt down to their very bones. A tear, crystal and delicate, slid down James' cheek, and Oliver wiped it away so gently with his thumb even Alexander felt the sweetness of that gesture clenching on his heart. "Are you okay?" he whispered against James' jaw, and James just shook his head and laughed a little like he had been broken and was now being pieced back together, before whispering back, "I'm just so happy." 

When they resumed kissing, Alexander tried to unwrap his arms from James, but his hands were grabbed and forced back to their place. "Please don't." James pleaded softly. "Don't let me go. Please. I want you here. I want you here with me. With us."

Alexander raised a questioning brow, but Oliver wiped away another tear from James' face and stared straight at the boy behind him. "Don't go, Alexander. Please. We need you here." 

Alexander sighed, kissed James' temple before muttering. "If my prince says so." 

**Author's Note:**

> i blame this on richelieux


End file.
